


26. Abandoned

by titC



Series: Whumptober 2019 [26]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2020-11-01 10:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20813813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titC/pseuds/titC
Summary: Foggy is fed up with Matt's unreliability.





	26. Abandoned

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Whumptober](https://whumptober2019.tumblr.com/) for organizing it and [PixelByPixel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/) for the beta!  


Matt was late. Again.

He’d been working on it, he really had; Foggy could see it on his pinched face some mornings, on his drawn features. He’d never been late for court, not ever again after the Castle trial fiasco; but he’d been late for meetings, for working breakfasts, and even for drinks out one evening. He’d fallen asleep while reading up on Mrs. Pak’s case, and Foggy and Karen had found him drooling on his couch with the Braille documents all spread out over and around him.

They’d teased him and moved on.

Today was no different, and yet today was the day Foggy had enough. After all they’d been through, Matt was bailing on him again. He was not, contrary to what he’d said, balancing shit, and Foggy was _done_. Did he want, or did he not want, to make Nelson & Murdock 2.0 work out? If the answer was _No_, then fine. Foggy could find a cushy job anywhere he wanted; he regularly got offers. If the answer was _Yes_, then Foggy had one question: _Why can’t you commit to it, you asshole? Why can’t you commit to us?_

Not that he was jealous of Matt’s side gig, no. Or main gig. Yes, Daredevil really was Matt’s main gig, and their firm an afterthought. What allowed him to buy more flimsy black shirts and more ropes to wrap around his fists, what kept him alive to do what he really wanted to do, which was punch bad guys in the face and sometimes get pummeled in return, night after night after night. And one day, there would be the fight he shouldn’t have jumped into. He’d already cheated death more times than a cat, but he had a cause and he’d never learned not to be a martyr. _Catholics_, Foggy thought. So one day he’d die, and he’d be gone for good.

For someone who’d been abandoned so often in his life, that was… Foggy didn’t get it. Couldn’t he see he’d be the one doing the abandoning this time?

Matt didn’t come in at all in the day, didn’t call, nothing; and Foggy was so furious he forgot to be afraid. Once he’d wrapped his last afternoon meeting, he left the office and marched to Matt’s apartment. He’d never wanted to go back to where they’d been a few years ago, when Matt hadn’t talked and Foggy hadn’t wanted to listen anyway, when Foggy had waited for a sign and all Matt had done was let him go and not fight for what they’d built. And yet, here they were again.

Foggy stomped up the stairs, tried to focus his thoughts like he did before a big trial, and found himself standing in front of a door that had been left ajar. It wasn’t like Matt to not close his door, though.

“Matt?” No answer. “Matt, I’m coming in.”

Foggy pushed the door open and stepped in. Nothing looked out for the ordinary; no broken table, no blood, no torn mask thrown on the couch.

There was, however, Matt’s messenger bag on a chair and his phone on the kitchen counter. A mug was there too, still half-full with very cold coffee; and when he checked the bedroom Matt’s jacket was lying on the bed as if it had been thrown there. It looked like he’d left in a hurry this morning, but he couldn’t have been particularly late if he’d taken the time to make coffee.

Foggy sat in an armchair and tried to have it all make sense. He was still frowning at the ceiling when he heard someone come in.

“Foggy,” Matt said. He sounded defeated, and when he came to stand in front of the armchair he looked defeated, too. “I’m sorry for today. Something came up.”

“What was it? Nevermind.” Foggy stood up and watched Matt take a few steps back. It didn’t make him feel anything; he wasn’t falling for the puppy dog eyes again. “Something always comes up, doesn’t it?”

“It was the last time.”

“Don’t lie to me, _Murdock_! What we’ve built together isn’t enough, is it? You’d rather be Daredevil than a lawyer. Just admit it, and then we can move on.” Foggy was almost yelling there at the end.

“It’s not…” Matt took a deep breath and seemed to brace himself. “No, you’re right, I’m not reliable. You’re right.”

Foggy would have wanted Matt to say anything, anything but that; but Matt didn’t want to fight, and Foggy was fed up. Fed up, and sad, and powerless in the face of Matt’s apathy. “Fine,” he said.

Matt’s mouth opened and closed, but he kept silent.

“Okay. Well, then.”

Foggy took a few steps in the direction of the door, then a few more. Matt didn’t move, standing there with his arms hanging and his head turned down a little. He wasn’t trying to stop Foggy, and so Foggy left.

He almost collided with someone coming up as he rushed down the stairs. He wasn’t really paying attention to anything that wasn’t his anger at both Matt and himself, for Matt’s lies and for his own gullibility.

“Hey!”

Foggy blinked. “I’m – oh, Fran. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

Matt’s neighbor sniffed. “Obviously. Good of you to come, finally. How’s my neighbor?”

“Huh?”

“After today, he needs some company. I’m surprised you’re already leaving, to be honest.”

“Um.”

“Why the dumb face?”

“What happened today?”

Fran stared at him. “Arlene died. You heard about Arlene, right?” He shook his head. “Idiot,” she muttered, and he wasn’t quite sure who she meant between him or Matt. “You go back up there and you talk, okay? We need a working lawyer in the building, landlord is being a right bastard again. Shoo, go. I’ll know if you leave too early, young man.”

Foggy mumbled something he hoped was a variation of _Yes, Ma’am_ and trekked back up the two flights of stairs he’d just climbed down.

He found Matt still standing where he’d left him, looking even more lost than before. He’d probably heard him with Fran, so he asked straight away.

“Who’s Arlene?”

“Fogs…”

“_Who’s Arlene_.”

“Was.”

“Huh?”

“Was. She died today.”

“Matt, please. Talk to me. Remember when we said no more hiding? _Talk to me_.”

“We said I wouldn't leave you and the firm in the lurch, too, and I know I’ve not been great lately.”

“Because of Arlene?”

Matt shrugged and sat on the couch.

Foggy joined him. “I thought it was because of Daredevil, that you were back to your _Matt Murdock is dead_ bullshit and didn’t want us to stop you. Matt, I thought you were leaving us, Karen and me and the firm, again. And we can’t help you if you refuse to be helped. I know you, after all these years.”

“Yeah, you do. I’m sorry.”

But sorry for what? Foggy still wanted answers, but he kept his voice quiet now. “So, Arlene.”

“She lived on the second floor,” Matt answered just as quietly. “Moved in last year. She saw my name on the mailbox, came to knock one evening. She asked, ‘Are you Jack’s son?’” Matt smiled at the memory. “I said I was. Turned out she knew my dad from way back when, they grew up on the same street and everything. She left New York when I was 3, but she remembered me.” Matt’s voice wavered a little, but he went on. “She said she babysat me sometimes, before she left. She had pictures, can you believe it? Of them as kids, and of me as a baby too. Of course, I couldn’t… but she described them to me, and she told me stories, and…” He stopped this time, and Foggy rooted into his bag at his feet for a pack of tissues. Matt took it with a nod of thanks, wiped his face and blew his nose.

“She sounds nice.” Foggy didn’t know what else to say.

“She was. Came back to New York after she got divorced, but she didn’t know people anymore. And then four months ago she got sick and the doctors… they couldn’t do anything.”

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Matty.”

“I tried to help, I did. Bought her groceries, went with her to her appointments, but I couldn't…”

“You did good. I’m sure she appreciated everything you did.” Foggy felt like the lamest person ever. Could he find anything blander to say? Matt needed something better than platitudes.

“The hospital called today, Fogs. This morning. It got worse last week, she had to go to – she couldn't stay home. She knew she’d never come back. I was with her all day today, I didn’t want to leave her alone. She didn’t have anyone else, Fogs, so I stayed with her; but I forgot my phone and I didn’t call you and…”

“That’s all right, Matt. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“I should have warned you.”

“And I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. You were doing something good but tough, Matty, and carrying all that on your shoulders all on your own. You don't have to, you know. I’m glad you weren’t pushing us away, but… what are friends for, you know?”

“You didn’t know her.”

“I know _you_. Bad things happen when we don’t talk, remember? And if we don’t, then we can’t be here for each other.”

“But Arlene…”

“You were there for her, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need someone in your corner, too. Everyone does.”

Matt toed his shoes off and wrapped his arms around his folded legs, his cheek against a knee. “Okay.”

Foggy’s heart broke a little at the scene. “C’mere,” he said, and he tugged Matt down until he was lying with his head in Foggy’s lap. “You don’t have to do everything alone, buddy. I’m here.”

And he’d _stay_ here until the cold death of the universe if he had any say in it.


End file.
